Toilet brush



May 19, 1925. 1,538,279

, l M. FAUCON, NEE BERGER A TOILET BRUSH Filed May 5, 1920 jnve 7237 Magum z' Z/ W,MBW-

Patented May 19, 1925.

UNITED STATES.

MARGUERITE 'FAUCON, NEE BERGER, OF ST. MANDE, FRANCE.

TOILET BRUSH.

Application filed May 3,

1920. Serial No. 378,599.

I (GRANTED UNDER, THE PROVISIONS or manor or anon 3, 1921, 41 STAT. I.., 1313.

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, MARoUnnrrnFAUooN, nee BERGER, a citizen of the Republic of France, and residing at stvMande (Seine 6 Department), No. 41 Avenue Alphand, in the Republic of France, manufacturer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toilet Brushes (for which I have filed applications in England, Feb. 2 1, 19141,

Patent No. 4,769, of 191 1-and-in France,

v Apia-22, 1914, additional Patent No.19,892),

1 of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in toilet brushes, such as shaving brushes,

' hair brushes etc. with a view to rendering the use of these implements absolutely hygienic, more particularly in hairdressers shops etc. I

These improvements chiefly consist in ar-' rangements owing to which brushes can be manufactured sufficiently. cheaply to enable them to be used onlyonce, and then destroyed, the said arrangements resulting moreover in producing,after the first use, such modifications in the appearance of the .brush thatthe latter could not possibly be alleged as not having been used.

The invention will be firstdescribed in its application to shaving brushes. It is well known that a brush of this kind is constituted by a tuft of cotton or other suitable threads or fibres held together by bindings, and by a hollow handle into which the narrow end of the tuft can be introduced and held.

Besides this, the opening of the handle is provided with one or more cutting blades that cut the binding of the tuft of fibres when it is introduced, so that the said tuft becomes unbound when it is withdrawn from. the handle, and the fibres, scattered about, can no longer be practically used.

The fibrous tuft can be surrounded by a supple sheath, for instance of pleated waterproofed paper, having for its object to keep back soapsuds and lather that are liable to escape from the fibres and fall on cloth- 111g.

The sheath can also be made of very supple rubber, and in that case, owing to its elasticity, it will flexibly support the tuft. This invention comprises further other improvements which will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing given by way of example.

Figure 1 is an elevation of a fibrous tuft provided with a spring and a supple sheath. Figure 2 is an elevation of a handle with expanding clamps or grips shown in the open position.

1 Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the same handle, the clamps being closed over a fibrous tuft'which is shown dotted. v

Figure 1 is a plan corresponding to Figure 3. e I

In Figure 1, the tuft of fibres 1, one end of which is tied by a string 2, is surrounded by a conical helical spring 3 and by a sheath 1 of pleated waterproofed paper. The spring serves to flexibly support the tuft. In the interior of the said handle cutting blades 7 are secured over which the string 2 passes and is cut when the tuft 1 is inserted injthe handle.

The handle shown in the drawing is arranged so as to facilitate the introduction and the removal of the tufts. It comprises, on the. one hand, four elastic clamps 16 which have the tendency to move away from each other and are secured by a bolt 17 on a hollow handle 18; and onthe other hand,

a sleeve sliding on the said handle and on the clamps. The said sleeve consists of an inner cylindrical socket 19, an outer socket 20, and a cover 21 screwed on the socket 20. It is prevented from turning by a pin 22 sliding in a groove 23 of the handle, and prevented from escaping from the latter by shoulders 24, 25. When the sleeve is raised relatively to. the handle (Figure 3), it'forces the clamps '16 to come together and to seize the tufts or fibres 1 between them. At the same time, a a

blade 'Tsecured in a detachable manner in the sleeve, slides on the string or paper or fabric binding of the tuft 1, and cuts it.

When the sleeve is lowered, the clamps again move apart and release the tuft, the fibres of which then separate. The cover 21 is used both for holding the blade 7 in a detachable manner and for securing the spring 3, also in, a detachable manner. hen the sleeve is lowered, the spring also is lowered and disengages the tuft of fibres 1, provided or not with a supple sheath, so that the re moval and the insertion of the tufts can be effected very conveniently and quickly.

When instead of a shaving brush it is de sired to make a hair brush, stronger fibres, and a spring or springs of suitable power and dimensions will be utilized.

Owing to the quick and economical method of binding or tying the fibres, the cost price of the brush is so infinitesimal that the hairdresser can destroy this brush after every service, which is imperatively demanded by hygienic considerations, as bacteriological analysis proves that of all the barber's tools, the hair brush is the one most exposed to being invaded by n'i'icrobes: streptococci, staphylococci, mesen-tericus, microspore Ausouinin etc.

After each service, the hairdresser will destroy the brush by throwing it into a recep tacle containing a little water; whether it be a shaving brush or a hair brush, the water, in getting into it, will cause it. to swell, and almost instantaneously the. bindingwill be torn or become unglued: the whole will fall to pieces: the hair brush or the shaving brush is radically destroyed. Its reconstitution becomes practically impossible, in any case much too onerous: moreover, it would require a new manufacture, that is to say a fraudulent imitation, quite apart from the fact that after all that one may do, the appearance of the fibre will inevitably reveal the use to which it has been put; so that the destruction is comple e and final: the hair brush, as well as the shaving brush, cannot possibly be used more than once.

The threads or fibres could be impregnated with a substance which would impart to them a strong color as soon as they are exposed to the action of soap suds; to that end, the end of the tuft intended to he introduced into the handle, could be dipped into an alcohol solution of phthaiein. namely phth'ale'in of phenol. The color will appear only when moisture will reach by capillarity the said end of the tuft, and it will spread then throughout the whole of the latter, thus rendering impossible any subsequent use of the shaving brush owing it its color which will be transmitted to the face.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the details hereinbefore described, and comprises the application of any equivalent means for the pin poses suggested.

Claims:

1. In a toilet brush, the combination of a hollow handle, a brush element removal ly secured to said handle, binding means surrounding said brush element for securing the bristles thereof, resilient clamps carried by said handle, a slidable sleeve carried by said handle and surrounding said clamps and adapted to tighten the latter on the tuft when the sleeve is slid over the same, and a knife member disposed within the sleeve and adapted to cut the said binding means upon the insertion of the brush element between the clamps.

2. In a toilet brush. the combination of a hollow handle, a brush element consisting of a tuft of bristles removably secured to said handle, binding means surrounding the said brush element for securing the bristles thereof, and a supple sheath of pleated waterproof paper surrounding the bristles.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witness s MARGUERITE FAUCON ne BERGER.

IVitnesses:

thus. P. Pnnssm', Mansion RAUX. 

